Early Summer Bits and Bobs.

[oldherbaceous]

Dug a section through where I had early potatoes, and now have three wigwams up and the last planting of Runner beans put in…..
Was hoping to press on with the hoeing but, the rain last night, has put pay to that.

Shall we have a, Late Winter bits and bobs ?

[Clive.]

Wait, there is hope...sunshine has returned..

...but first a strange lunch...cheese rolls with a side of mixed veg... followed by even more stewed Pershore plums...

C.

[oldherbaceous]

By the sounds of that feast, Clive, you could open one of those fancy restaurants….

[oldherbaceous]

I did mean to put, Late Summer….

[Geoff]

How about "Indian Summer Bits and Bobs" and give the weather a hint?

[Westi]

Soil still a bit damp, but more rain coming so all the main crop spuds taken up. Some really good sizes so I shall be enjoying some nice jacket potatoes as the autumn nears. I hope we have no unannounced visitors as I have spread them all out on the bed in the back room on the old dogs car seat protector.

The sweet peas on the arch have all met their use by date so cleared them & took the opportunity to weed this area & along the tunnel edge. I planted a whole lot of multicolour Primroses along the tunnel edge, everyone sees them as old fashioned & a bit garish but I love the zap of colour on a cold, dull day. I plan to fill the arch bed with all the little Viola's plants that have popped up around the plot, mainly as they are so many & free so should make an impact when they matt together.

Thunder & lightening storms predicted tomorrow so I will have to stay at home & be a responsible adult & do some house work!

[retropants]

We had with our dinner this evening…..from the plot: valor potatoes (hasselback) fine beans, broccoli side shoots then for desert rhubarb and strawberry crumble.

[Westi]

No thunder or lightning but certainly rain! I've been looking at the mag & keep coming back to the Plantsurge magnetic watering system, which comes with KG recommendation & 10% discount! Anyone tried it yet?
I get really excited when thunder & lightening is predicted as you can really see the plants respond & it is supposed to replicate this & just clips on the hose. I'll probably will get it but would be interested if anyone else has actually tried it?

[Geoff]

I would be exceedingly dubious if I was you Westi.

[Westi]

I'm with you Geoff on reflection, as way back I remember looking online for what things are released from the clouds & rain during a proper storm, can't recall the details but a lot were funny elements that I doubt would be influenced by magnets. I might have another look just to check - might make myself all intelligent for a few days & drive you all batty; promise it will only be a few days that about my maximum attention span!

[janjones]

Gardening has very much been a hit and miss for me this wet year. Saying that some plants thrived even though I neglected them due to not getting out in the rain. But do I really need 20 tomato plants? 4 each of 5 different varieties which are just starting to turn red, could be due to the banana skins? And 6 cucumber plants. I planted 'spacemaster' in pots. I think one of the florence fennel's have bolted, it's stem is about a foot long? Both the cobnut and elder have grown over a foot each this year and they are in pots too.
Dry day yesterday so pegged down several strawberry runners and put the spent compost back into bags, will top off with farmyard manure. Second brood of swallows left the nest so can get back into the shed to tidy up today. Been decorating on wet days and every muscle, bone and joint is screaming at me to stay in bed today but it's the last dry day this week so need to do what I can to get it ready for next year.
Jan

[Westi]

Worked through the beds weeding, got to the long watermelon bed that was spreading everywhere & in flower attracting bees to find it wilting. On inspection something had nipped both plants off at the stems! One year I will succeed with this, I thought it might be this year as I built them a nice bubblewrap structure to retain heat as well as giving the bed a really big manure pile over winter to break down under black plastic & it was really lovely.

I might have to make room in the tunnel for one next year & sacrifice the sweet potatoes, which is fine as they store really well & I'm still using last years.

[Westi]

It appears everyone seems to be busy, busy & no time to post! I agree it is a bit chaotic on the plot, harvest in full swing eats into the tidy up time & now the Apple Trees are ready, but from looking up tomato recipes to apple recipes will be a nice change. Dorset Apple Cake first at Mr's request, but wasn't hard to agree as my favourite as well, probable not PC to core fans but I love a still warm slice out of the oven with warm custard. (If anyone from Dorset reads this I will be thrown out of the county as considered sacrilege somewhere for sure, but I'm adaptable & ice-cream is good as well)!

The pumpkin dilemma continues, they looked like they were going to colour correctly but looking at the sad bunch today I noted the stems are going brown. It will be down to the taste to see if bitter, otherwise I'll just have to assume they reverted to the original or some disgruntled seed packer played some tricks. Now the plant passport is not so stringent, I think I will buy next years seeds from overseas as it just doesn't look right with every fruit orange!

Anyway back to the weeding tomorrow - oh & off course picking runner beans & tomatoes...& hearing what everyone has been up to the last couple of days!

[snooky]

Was bored so went to the plot after I had my tea.Picked runner and dwarf beans and lifted a row of Nadine potatoes and a very disappointing crop.I was more than a little surprised because Casablanca and Kestral had produced a very fair return.Be interesting to see the return from the main crop of a variety I have not heard of before so never planted,Caledonian Rose,a red variety
I bought them from Kings Seeds 4x2.5kg packs for £20 plus p and p.Best looking seed potatoes I have seen and used in years.Will be looking out for them again next year.

[tigerburnie]

My out door garden has basically finished, picked the peas and broad beans weeks ago, french beans just coming in and the out door sweetcorn looks like it might try and produce something, but I have a feeling we will run out of summer before it's ripe.
The greenhouse is heaving with stuff full of drying onions, tomatoes with every meal just now and the sweet corn is nearly ready.